Tedferg

On 12/5/2023 at 11:59 AM, crystalspin said:

You become a 1* Mariner after one voyage of any length. 

OK I created a sin in so got a Mariner number - thought I was hoping for too much 🙂

Is Mariner OBC a loyalty bonus?

To reiterate, $10 is a small amount of money but, to me, having the Medallion pre cruise has no value versus the concern of whether it would be shipped in time, lost in shipping etc. (One person did point out that you can pick it up at the port if it is lost)

Recently in Hawaii there were two lines to get into the building, a quick one for Medallion holders and a wait to check passport for non-holders. Inside there was just one long line, regardless of status or Medallion. I think this might have been due to the need to check Aus and NZ visas.

1 hour ago, crystalspin said:

The 6 and 7 day California Coastal (early 2025) are still within the Early Booking Bonus time and have upgraded HIA and paid crew incentive, if that is of interest.

Must check that out, never thought of looking out that far

ETA OK so HIA at regular price but upgraded to Full package, also Crew Appreciation, right?

How long does Early Booking last - is this always a HAL feature?

We have not sailed HAL and last week was browsing some California Coastal early next year. Prices looked OK with Crew Appreciation included - I do not see this today. I guess that was a promotion. Does HAL do this frequently

15 hours ago, Melonn said:

I was on this cruise from HNL to SYD ...relaxing...calm seas...no shows repeated.  We enjoyed the farm-to-table excursion in Auckland.  We watched a lot of the lectures from our cabin and we enjoyed the movie selections.  Yes, I missed the production shows.

I remember those calm mill ponds seas. I wondered if that was the Doldrums but it seemed further South.

4 hours ago, memoak said:

Maui is being booked now. We have a Hawaii cruise in April and we will be calling at Kahului 

Good to hear, they ned tourist $$$$

6 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 I’ve not seen a refund or discount when purchased onboard as someone else has indicated.  

The $10 I referred to is a refund of Medallion shipping charge - even if you do not have it shipped.

We did Honolulu to Sydney in October and enjoyed it. The cruise started in Vancouver, but we preferred flying to Honolulu to shave 6 or mor sea days. We too were hesitant because of so many sea days and decided to simply take a new attitude and enjoy more 'down time'. Great cruise but disappointed there was only two Production shows.

We took Hobbiton excursion from Tauranga and loved it, we are fans of Lord of The Rings.

I also see Maui as a stop this will probably be changed.

Lastly, if you plan a tour of the Opera House in Sydney, be sure to book online ahead of time.

1 hour ago, e71465 said:

If you purchase the Princess Plus package when you board, is it at the upgrade price of $60 per day?

Yes and, strangely, you each get a $10 refund to your account.

The reason we went with port pick up was because we had seen quite a few posts with people worrying if the medallion would arrive in time and others saying theirs had been lost in shipping. Nothing to do with saving $10. Boarding in Honolulu there were two lines, Medallion Holders went straight in, we had a line of say 12 people. When we went in there was a really long line, I am not sure if a Medallion avoided this. They had to check NZ and Aussie Visas.

18 minutes ago, memoak said:

There is no more boarding pass your medallion serves that purpose

And just to be clear, you don't need a 'Boarding Pass' to collect your Medallion, so even if you do not have Medallion shipped, you don't need anything extra.

On 11/7/2023 at 4:54 AM, Yehootu said:

We are doing the Sydney to Vancouver in March. Who did you use for your excursion to Hobbiton?

How did you like the Grace Hotel, we are booked there for 2 nights pre cruise.

   Mahalo

HOME | Cruise Tours Tauranga |

Grace was great, old style elegance but very modern large room.

4 hours ago, sunviking90 said:

The daily CA is charged to our account and any OBC we have is applied towards the balance.

Got it, I had forgotten that CA is charged to the account.

2 hours ago, sunviking90 said:

And I can used OBC for this

Agree with your points, just curious, how would you use OBC for this?

4 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

Do you support CA going to Onboard Revenue Areas?  And what is that exactly?

No, I don't support that. Initially I thought CA was distributed just to the crew on that ship. Made sense that background people got a share. I also thought this 'Tip Pool' would be a bonus on top of their wages. I thought, furthermore, that extra tip was kept by cabin steward, as long as CA was not removed.

I was a little confused when I heard it was Fleet Wide, but OK maybe this makes up for partially loaded ships etc.

Finally, as a result of HaveDog's information I am taken aback that it is not a separate pool paid out as a bonus and that salaries are predetermined per contract etc.

I do not think this will affect what I do in the future and will leave CA as is, but it does make me think that direct tipping of an equal or greater amount to CA would be a more effective way of rewarding people who I interface with, especially if that does not affect other salaries!

5 hours ago, skynight said:

Make certain your air flights have been entered into the Princess system. Princess then knows you are arriving. Go to the baggage pick up and a Princess rep will be there.

Very important. We recently landed in Honolulu and, like you, did not know what to expect. I did not have my Summary or itinerary, just booking confirmation. There should have been portside rep in white/blue Hawaiian shirt to greet us at baggage claim. Other passengers on other flights were greeted this way. Our rep was overly concerned with another large group and told us, vaguely, to go to the pick up area. I won't bore you with the details, I thought she was just Hawaiian Information Rep. If I had known what to expect I could have handled it differently. BTW I complained onboard, and Guest Services refunded transfer fee.

3 hours ago, jmr3201 said:

Can anyone verify that you can purchase the Princess Plus package upon boarding the ship?  Do they offer any specials to get you sign up for it?

Yes you can purchase. No specials.

5 hours ago, memoak said:

It must vary ship to ship. On the Crown at Vines we were able to share one meal and it only counted against one of our 4 meals under the plus package 

Agree and it might change over time on all ships. We had a discussion at the Sushi place on Royal and they said the same thing. They also stressed that if we ordered a l carte instead of the fixed price menu, we would be charged regardless of Plus visit.

Thanks for so much information. We have done many Ocean cruises, Princess, and except for two occasions, always had a balcony - daylight, fresh air were important. Would never take an inside cabin.  However it is further to go to get to Promenade or Lido decks on Ocean cruise, whereas I think on a River cruise it is easy to get to an outside deck.

Looking at Amsterdam - Budapest and Verandahs ~ 9,699, French 8,299 Standard 5,799, roughly. So for two people that's $8K more for Verandah or $5k more for French. 

10 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

I’m with you!  While I think that sometimes the volume is set a little too high, I do enjoy the entertainment, games and other events in the piazza.  
I am actually happy when there are seats available there .. maybe because others want a more subdued and quiet atmosphere.  
We cruised on Celebrity earlier this year and I just find it to be kind of boring. There was rarely any entertainment or activities happening in the day time hours.  

Just of note, Princess seems to be filling their ships .. and the piazza .. obviously, many people like what they are offering!  I know I do!  

We enjoy the games too it is the music we find disturbing when it is too loud. The games are engaging the music should be background.

3 hours ago, lx200gps said:

Too funny.  We did exactly this last month on the Discovery, at a table set up in the Piazza as soon as we boarded. The crew member processed our Premier upgrade on the spot with his tablet, then proceeded to give a very long "dissertation" on all details of the package, with which we were already very familiar. Took us forever to get away from the well-meaning gentleman as he wouldn't stop talking ;o)

Our guy was very quick too, and he set both iPhones up on WIFI and pointed out to us that we would be charged if we used a la carte at the casual dining restaurants. Quick and informative.

We had a long conversation about this on the Royal in Oct. The waiter at check in said, 'It's like a cover charge'. So we were charged two visits even though we explained to the waiter that we were having just one pizza. Initially qw explained in detail to the waiter and he said, 'Share a pizza, sure'. We ordered and he brought one salad and after the pizza he said we still had a tiramisu to share. We were charged two visits. Subsequently we just wanted a pizza a la carte, we explained this to the manager at check in and he made a note - we were charged $8.50 as expected. This saved our second visit which we used for Sushi later.

I have the impression that not a lot of time is spent in the cabin on a river cruise and so there is little justification in paying for a balcony. It does seem that balconies are quite a bit more expensive on River versus Ocean cruises.

I have two thoughts, interesting comments by mtnesterz, I did not understand the age related aspect of hearing differently. I do understand that hearing loss of higher frequencies causes conversation to be unclear, but not that sound/noise levels might be different. While sitting in Princess Live and the host shouts into a microphone 'Hello Cruisers!' my ears hurt!

Secondly, in a large multi use, gathering space such as the Piazza, music should be softer 'background' music that does not intrude on general conversation. It should NOT be an entertainment event.

I recall chatting to DW in Crooners when the guitar player played a tune, she said, 'Oh I love this number' and we discussed the artist in a normal tone. That to me is entertainment. A discordant voice, screaming Proud Mary so loudly that we cannot hear each other is not. To the person who suggests ear plugs - how would they help conversation in the latter circumstance.